* Asus N61JQ Owners Lounge *

Sorry if this isn't the right place for this, but I don't know where else to go.

The problem I am having with this laptop is that it randomly freezes. When I first
bought the n61jq, I had the same problem of freezing which required me to hold the power button to shut it off. It would randomly freeze every hour or day for about a week, and then it stopped. I disregarded the problem and upgraded the ram. It was working fine for about a month or two, but this past week it started freezing up again. I've tried system restore and a virus scan. It would freeze up randomly even if I'm just browsing through the internet scrolling through the pages. I have not made any changes to my computer recently except for windows update, so I don't know what the problem is.

Sometimes there's different freeze which only happened once or twice. Before the screen freezes and my computer locks up, the screen would become checkered with diagonal yellow-green or blue boxes. I can move my mouse around for a few seconds, but I can't click or open anything. Then eventually everything would lock up, and instead of a regular freeze everything turns black.

The pattern with the freezing is that it would freeze a lot within a short time period, and then it would be fine for about a week or so, until another wave hit.

There was only once when I made a recovery, after everything turned checkered and then black. I checked the event viewer and it stated that Display driver amdkmdap stopped responding and has

successfully recovered event ID 4101

I've tried installing Intel Matrix Manager, and ATI Catalyst Control Center, but I would still freeze sometimes.

Whenever I checked the event viewer, and the only thing besides the critical warnings I get from shutdown I have this: Audit events have been dropped by the transport. 0 event 1101

I thought a clean install would work. I bought a new hybrid Seagate XT 500 GB hard drive and installed Windows 7 Professional 64 bit yesterday. Then I installed all the drivers, but the problem persists. The freezes occur about once every 6 to 12 hours.

I am a bit hesitant to send it back for repair, since I need it for school. Is there anything I can do to solve this problem?

Thanks

 

The new ASUS N53JQ is scheduled to arrive in the US on Novermber 1st.

 

There are a couple of things you can try that may help.

1) KB2265716 hotfix for random freezes

2) Catalyst 10.8 + Adobe Flash 10.1.85.3 ( Internet Explorer (ActiveX) and Firefox, etc.).

I was getting a lot of graphics-related crashes (BSODs) caused by hardware acceleration in Flash content. Some of them were even triggered by Flash-based ads. Catalyst 10.8 + the newest Flash seems to have fixed the issue for me. If you notice that you get crashes while viewing Flash content, and the above fix doesn't work for you, you can try disabling hardware acceleration (right-click a Flash video, choose Settings, and uncheck Hardware acceleration).

 

It looks like this notebook doesn't have a chiclet keyboard? That's a deal breaker for me.

 

Sorry for the late reply. It doesn't seem the laptop is entering sleep/standby mode correctly because any movement, whether mouse or keyboard will wake it. I'm using the original W7 Home Premium that shipped with the laptop.

I don't think it's the shortcut mapped to the wrong function as I go to start menu and find the sleep button directly. And the time difference between hibernate and sleep is around 30 min. so I don't think that's a problem. To further clarify, when the laptop goes into sleep, all the lights will stay on for basically forever (since I'm plugged in). It doesn't even go into hibernate after x amount of time.

I'm also using the latest AMD drivers 10.8.

 

The only thing, in my opinion, this new laptop has over ours is the NVIDIA graphics card. Otherwise, loving the n61

 

I've already placed my pre-order on ASUS G53JW-A1...

ASUS G53JW-A1 Intel Quad Core i7-740QM (1.73GHz) Processor, 15.6" Full HD (1920x1080) LED Display, 6GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory, 750GB 7200RPM Hard Drive, DVD Super Multi Drive, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB GDDR5 Graphics Card, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit, Backlit keyboard, 2nd hard drive bay...

 

Hi guys, i am a new user of n61jq, and am asking for some help.

Why is it that bluetooth and wi-fi module can not operate side-by-side.
Last week i could surf over wi-fi and listen through the speakers songs on my n95, this week, it is no longer possible. Only bluetooth works fine. (btw, why is there fn+f2 only all on/all on, i hate it like this )

http://www.shrani.si/f/2p/40/2RIM1W8r/brez-naslova.png (sorry because of the language, it says external bluetooth device where there are "!" marks, and sorry about the size of the picture, it shouldn't be that big when i saved it on the interwebz)
And AFAIK, this is the same screen as it was when started for the first time.

Help, i did download drivers from asus site, but install says there is no bluetooth module installed. i hope i'm not going to regret buying this thing.

 

These are the most recent releases of our laptops, better processor and blu-ray drive. I should have waited.

N61JQ-B1:

* Intel Core i7-740QM Quad-Core Processor 1.73GHz with turbo boost up to 2.8GHz
* 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM, 2 slots, 8GB Max; ATI HD5730 graphics with 1GB DDR3 VRAM
* 500GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM); Super Multi Optical Disk Drive; Wi-Fi 802.11 bgn
* HDMI Port; USB 3.0 port; Bluetooth; 2.0MP Webcam
* 16-Inch HD (1366x768) LED Display; Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) Operating System

N61JQ-B2:

* Intel Core i7-740QM Quad-Core Processor 1.73GHz with turbo boost up to 2.8GHz
* 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM, 2 slots, 8GB Max; ATI HD5730 graphics with 1GB DDR3 VRAM
* 500GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM); Blu-ray combo drive; Wi-Fi 802.11 bgn
* HDMI Port; USB 3.0 port; Bluetooth; 2.0MP Webcam
* 16-Inch HD (1366x768) LED Display; Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) Operating System

 

I don't really like the design of the N61, I would much rather it be all black, like a bigger version of he Asus UL80JT. The N53JQ design is an improvement but the lid is gray rather than black like the rest of the machine. Are you sure this is going to be the replacement for the next year, or is Asus going to release another notebook design with similar specs?

Otherwise the specs are great. If all the USB ports were USB 3 and it had a 1 TB HD then the specs would be perfect.

 

Good luck with the sales on that Donald, its good to hear from you again.

 

Thanks Mike! I added your name to the major contributors list on the bottom of the first page of this lounge. This list is reserved for the people who have made this lounge what it is. I'm adding your name now because I am confident that if you hang around here long enough it will end up there anyway. Now if you bail on us I'm pulling it!
I have not worked on the first page in a while. If you come up with something you think should be posted there let me know. I take all suggestions as I'm just a Seattle bus driver who started this Lounge to hopefully learn about this Laptop from people like you.

 

Greg, I greatly appreciate the warmth and high regards. I'm keeping the laptop thats for sure. I use it for business, occasionally gaming, and HD movie viewing and rarely use it on battery thus my gripe about the whine is virtually insignificant with regards to my usage habits.

I'm from Chicago, so I'm a big MJ fan, this weekend I picked up NBA2K11 (special Jordan edition) and played for a little on my 52" flat screen. Wow, this beastly N61 runs perfectly smooth all maxed out. Reminded me of the good old days when the Bulls beat the Sonics in the finals... LOL

Now its time to fire up my Asus S101 netbook on linux to get some work done now...

Mike

 

A bulls fan huh. If Nate McMillian wouldn't have got hurt in the 96 finals the Bulls would have one less title. Shawn Kemp was the real MVP in that series.
I am allowed to cry over spilled milk since my team was stolen by a Oklahoma rustler.
God I miss MJ!

 

Nate was indeed great, but if I recall you guys had a tough time against Utah in the Conference Finals that year, almost blew the 3-1 series lead.

The one thing that separated Jordan from the greats was he lost like them all, but he never lost a series in the NBA Finals.

Something even today's best player Kobe can't compete with as he lost to Boston in the NBA Finals.

Not planning on turning this thread into an NBA flashback, but a good run down memory lane it was playing as MJ in NBA 2K11 with some superb graphics today.

Are you an Oklahoma fan now? The Thunder are a serious competitor in the NBA West.

 

i should have it in a day, will report any problems

EDIT: ok i played F1 2010 for a total of 30 min, it skipped once in that span of time.
not too keen on the game, was hoping for something like GRID

 

Hello,

I'm a new member. My N61JQ-B2 should be arriving from Xoticpc Thursday. Replacing my now departed HP DV6000-series which gave me a good four-years.

I ordered the restore disc from Xotic and plan to wipe the disc and do a fresh system install straight off. The driver info in this thread has been useful in preparing. Thanks.

Aside from general everyday computing, I do a lot of audio editing and some recording with my laptop. Also some very basic video editing. I'm looking forward to the improved performance over my old HP. I ordered a FireWire Expresscard (w/TI chip) to accommodate my audio interfaces.

Here's how I ordered mine:

Asus N61JQ-B2 - i7-740QM w/IC Diamond, 4GB 1333 DDR3, HD5730 1024MB, 4X Blu-Ray Super Multi Combo, 500GB Seagate XT, Intel Advanced-N 6200 Wi-Fi.

Thanks again to all who contribute and make this an excellent resource.

Cheers,

Greg

 

No Sonic fan would ever root for the Thunder.
40 years of fan support in the 13th largest market flushed down the toilet.
Shame on you David Stern!

 

Hello guys, I was wondering if anyone could give some advice. My N61JQ has died again after receiving it from it's 3rd RMA which was about a week ago. It was the same issue from it's 1st to the 3rd RMA: computer boots up with no video output. It is now doing the same thing.

I've purchased this laptop in April, so I've only had for about 6 months. The total use time was probably less than that because of shipping/RMA turn around time, which was between 2 weeks to a month.

I've requested ASUS on the 3rd RMA to replace this laptop, but they've ignored it. I've gone back to reseller and asked for a refund, but that's a no go. I'm not sure what action(s) to take next, I want to start another RMA but I feel like their going to just perpetually keep replacing the mother board in attempt to fix my unknown issue. I understand that this laptop has a 2 years warranty, but having gone back for repairs 3 times in only 6 months is ridiculous. It's been quite cumbersome to keep going trough the RMA process. At this point I've actually do not want this laptop anymore.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

Hi Mathyewwww,

I'm seeing the exact same webcam problems you've reported. I changed all my drivers a few times and still have major lag. All I want to do is Skype a bit to show my babies to family across the country and the current lag/blur/chop is unexceptional. 2sec + lag.

Did you ever find a solution? Anybody else seeing this? My machine is a N61jq-B1. I just purchased it new. 2MP piece of crap. I'm very disappointed in the webcam. Help please? Can anything be set in the registry to improve this. I have a hard time believing that a crappy 400$ laptop can perform better webcam video than this Nice new N61jq.

 

Demand a new one from Asus. It is an opportune time as they are bringing out these new models. Use your resellers pull to talk to someone high in rank who can approve such a request. I can't see anyone turning you down if you provide evidence of all your RMAs. It's totally unacceptable.

 

So guy how's life around here, I was absent from this forum for a while.
I was too busy preparing my PhD defense.

I have good new from my personal side.
I have completed my PhD degree yesterday!!!
Now I am a doctor of engineering. :smile:

 

congratulations!!

 

Congrats on that man. I know you must have worked so hard for that!

So what's the next move?

 

Congratulations to you Turbogear, what a great accomplishment.
Now your first assignment is to engineer us an extended life battery!

 

My thoughts exactly but I was giving him a little rest before he did that.

 

Turbogear, great work ! pleased to hear this!

 

If I were a power engineer, I would definitely investigate into that, but I am from RF and microwave field.
By microwave I don't mean just the device that you use to heat the food.
It is more like designing systems at high frequencies like Radars.

 

I got a Blue Screen of Death after exiting a 3D application. I have the most recent drivers, so they couldn’t be the problem. The error code was 0x0000003b.

 

Hello, Yes the only thing that made it work a bit like normal was alot of sunlight from windows being open.. or a perfectly bright room.
There was virtually no lag whatsoever.
Im guessing this webcam just doesn't like compensating for bad lighting.

 

Thanks Deathwinger, I'll give a shot

 

Can anyone suggest which ssd i should get for my n61jq?
I have no idea which are the best performance ones.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Kingston SNV425-S2 SSD 2.5” 64G
PQI S528 64M Buffer 64G
Patriot PS-100 64M Buffer 64g
Patriot Inferno SanForce SF-1222 60G
Patriot Zephyr 64M Buffer 64G
G.Skill Falcon2 64M Buffer 64G
OCZ Agility2 SandForce 60G

 

I have an OCZ Agility 2 SandForce 120GB and really like it. It has no issues with the N61JQ and it. My Windows 7 Primary Hard Disk subscore shot up to 7.7 after installing it and running an application called SSD Tweaker to optimize Windows for the SSD. Windows now boots in about 7-8 seconds and shuts down in about 3 seconds.

SSD Tweaker | Download SSD Tweaker software for free at SourceForge.net

Awesome application recommended for anyone with a SSD. I had a 5.9 subscore before running this application because a lot of things like prefetch, superfetch, etc were all enabled in Windows and were slowing the SSD performance down.

I got the OCZ because of price, reviews, and strength of the SandForce controller. Not too familiar with the other ones you mentioned. Also, the OCZ forums at the link below also have some top-notch advice and are regularly monitored by SSD experts.

OCZ Forum

Hope this helps.

Mike

 

Risco,

The battery drain with mic listening fix led me to investigate this further. I have a new fix that works for me without actually enabling the listen to this device for the microphone.

Here's what I did.

I realized that the whine disappears when I have the (mmsys.cpl,,1) sound applet running. Basically this means that whenever I had the Sound - Recording Tab Window open the whine would disappear. If I select the Playback Tab it comes back, if I select the Sounds Tab, the whine comes back.

So simply having that Sound - Recording Tab Window open did the trick. My audiodg.exe memory usage dropped back down to about 12mb vs. 20-22 w/ listen to this device enabled. (Memory usage with the Sound Recording Tab window closed is about 11mb.)

But it bugged me that that Sound - Recording Tab window wasn't "minimizable".

That's when I stumbled upon a freeware application called AltMove, that has a tiny fingerprint at about 2mb memory, to enable a force window minimization by dragging the right mouse button in a downward motion.

AltMove windows and mouse manager

Lastly, I added the following direct shortcut to Sound - Recording Tab (attached the file) to my windows startup folder.

C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

I also pinned the shortcut to my taskbar for convenience.

Sound Shortcuts - Create - Windows 7 Forums

So now every time my computer starts, the Sound - Recording Tab window shows up and I drag it downward with my mouse gesture by altmove and the window just sits and does its job of silencing the whine.

I uninstalled Virtual Audio Cable as it became useless for me, AltMove is actually a convenient little app that I now use to minimize some windows and maximize likewise, and lastly I presume battery life should be unaffected by this fix. I have not tested this, but the drop in memory usage and the sheer nature of not having a device listen all the time reassures me that battery life shouldn't be affected.

Let me know if this works for anyone.

Hope this helps.

Mike

 

Good on you man, great thing to achieve

By the way, you say "like radars", then could you please contact FIFA and project for them a rader to say when the ball goes past the line, please

 

Sounds good.
You think the OCZ Vertex 2 60GB E Series SSD would be on par with it?
Aaand, would a 60gb one be enough to speed up my lappy?

 

The Vertex 2 is even faster than the Agility 2. I have a Vertex 2 on my desktop and its very fast as well. A handful of online review sites rated the Vertex 2 SandForce the fastest SSD ever tested.

Any SSD will speed up your laptop. Realize the biggest bottleneck on new computers with quad core processors, DDR3 memory, and super fast graphics cards is the standard HDD.

The second you change to a SSD, you will notice an increase in responsiveness because SSD have virtually no seek time as they don't need the hard disk to spin to access the data.

Don't forget to run that app I posted to optimize the SSD though, good luck.

 

Mike, Thanks for posting this, I'm sure it will help someone and I will post it on the first page under " Squealing sounds".

 

David, Tony, Stevedogg, Adamal, 2MNY, are you guys still out there?

 

I'm still here. With stolen laptop, job and girlfriend I don't have as much time as I used to to lurk the forum but I do try and catch up every now and then.

 

I forgot about your stolen laptop. Have you picked out your next model yet?

 

I'm still lurking, every so often, in the background. I just have a bit too much on my plate these days. I am just trying to get everything done before I head for surgery on November 22nd.

 

Good luck with the sugery David. Hopefully it will relieve some of your pain.

 

Hey guys I might be getting this laptop tomorrow actually. I wanted to know what the cpu/gpu temps are on average when gaming for a while. I read through the first page and i guess its always around 60-70?

Also how does the i7's turbo boost work? does it only increase the speed of one core or all 4?

And does anyone know what the wifi card of this is? is better/worse/the same as my current intel wireless wifi link 4965AGN?

 

For me , it hovers in the early 80's on average when gaming. (Max was 82 (CPU)/84(GPU) ).

Turbo boost allows the processor to increase the speed , if at least one core is unutilised (will power down that core and increase the clock speed of the other cores, temperatures permitting).

So, the 1.6 GHz Quad core would act roughly as a 2.5 GHz dual core if only two cores are being utilized and could jump to 2.8 Ghz if only one core is being used.

Can't properly answer the last question.

 

unless I see a new model that looks better I think I'm going to replace it with another n61.

 

Wifi card inside my N61JQ is a Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter.

Don't know if it is better or worse, I did see some people mention that this Atheros doesn't support 5Ghz routers and a lot of people switch to Intel Wifi cards.

I use an old school Linksys 2.4Ghz router with DD-WRT without issues.

 

Thanks Greg. This one should actually give me back my legs as it is going to release the pressure on the nerve clusters. I should be able to walk normal again. It is only going to relieve one of the 3 issues I have in my back but, it should delay the fusion surgery for about 3 - 5 years.

Considering all of my hobbies are working with electronics (or programming), having nerve damage in your legs makes things extremely difficult. The damage has been degrading rapidly so I can't delay this surgery much longer. The 2 procedures I had previously just made things worse.

I go in on the 22nd at 6AM. I am the first surgery for the day and should be done by 8AM. If all goes well, I am back home the morning of the 23rd. My mother is coming down from Connecticut to help me with my daughter. My sister is coming down the 24th to help my mother with Thanksgiving. Everyone arrives the 25th for Thanksgiving. I wont be too mobile yet but, I should be up-and-about and able to be social for Thanksgiving.

 

Can anyone recommend a laptop sleeve for this model that fits well? I use a 17inch sleeve because this laptop is oversized for most 16inch sleeves I've checked dimensions on.

 

Hey guys im wondering if its worth getting more ram later on past 4 gb. Does the 4 gb model come with 2x 2gb? so theres only 2 ram slots meaning you would have to ditch those and buy 2x4gb ones or does it come with 4 slots and 2 free ones.